Wednesday, September 7, 2011

200 starts, 68 wins

Starting pitcher:
M.C. O'Connor

My tank is empty. Matt Cain pitched well and lost. It's such a tired story--I can't do it any more. I have nothing to say except that he should know better than to give up late runs. I mean run. Will Venable hit a leadoff home run and then the Padres got zero hits until two out in the 6th, when they got two and scored the go-ahead run. That was the game. Like I said, Matt Cain should know better. He should have been happy with a tie (thank you, Brett Pill). The 'no-decision' is a respectable stat. C'mon, Matt, shoot for those NDs from now on. And speaking of Brett Pill, I'm happy for the guy, but I really think the Giants first baseman of the future is Brandon Belt. And the future is now. Let's see some more of the Baby Giraffe. And Crawford, too. Let's see some more Brandon Crawford. Please, no more Orlando Cabrera. He is not an upgrade over Miguel Tejada, a man who was just served his walking papers. I'd feel better about the wretched state of the Giants offense if it was a bunch of youngsters struggling to hit real pitching instead of an over-the-hill gang coming up waaaaaaay short in the Veteran Savvy Clutchness department.

The Giants are 3-7 in Cain's last ten starts. He's thrown 70-2/3 innings, given up 54 hits, 26 runs, and 18 walks. He's struck out 50 and has 164 on the season (his career high is 186). He's 5th in the NL in WHIP, 1st in Quality Starts, and 3rd in OPS against. He now has five straight 200 IP seasons which ties him with Jim Barr and Jack Sanford on the all-time SF list. Only Juan Marichal (10) and Gaylord Perry (6) have more. Cain will pass Sanford (211) and Barr (220) in starts next season, and has Mike McCormick (252), Kirk Rueter (277), Perry (283), and Marichal (446) still ahead.

7 comments:

Amen. It's great that Pill homered in his first two games, but he's really not a part of the future. It bothers me that Christian/Pill are receiving starts at the expense of Brandon Belt -- what does that say about what management thinks about Belt? I mean, they've been given a golden opportunity -- they're basically out of the race, so now they can play him every single day without "having to worry that he'll struggle." I.e. nothing's on the line. Very frustrating.

A classic Cain game. It's sad. He's one of the best pitchers we've ever had. I hope he stays a Giant forever. Maybe 10 years from now he'll have been getting better support and will have a mountain of wins to show for it.As for our surplus of first basemen, maybe Pill is better than Belt. I'm not certain Belt is going to be a star. I heard that Angel Villalona has put his legal troubles behind him(ie. he got away with murder) and he might be attempting a comeback. Wouldn't that be something? I assume we still own the rights to him.

I think Pill may open up some eyes. He may or may not be part of the future. The brass thinking that he could not hit in the majors could be wrong. Lets go with a lineup of, Torres Center, Christian left, Beltran right, Pablo third, Belt first, Pill second (he played some there in Fresno), Crawford ss, and Sanchez catcher. Lets do that. If timmy wants to pitch to stewart than so be it. Otherwise lets see what these guys can do with an occasional shot to Burriss, and Ford, and a couple of other young guys. Belt can hit Kershaw.